Internships are highly stressed as an important college experience. An internship is an educational experience that allows students to apply what they’ve learned to actual work situations and it involves the student, an employer and an internship sponsor from Indiana University Southeast.

In order for students to apply for an internship, they must first meet the requirements on the IUS Career Development Center’s website. A student must be a junior or a senior in academic standing, have at least a grade point average of 2.5 (2.7 for business majors), work a minimum of eight hours a week in the internship during a minimum of 14 weeks and meet the requirements to earn credit hours for an internship.

“Students must schedule an appointment to come to one of our information sessions that we have Monday through Thursday during the lunch hour,” Rosie Shannon, internship coordinator of career services, said. “That’s step number one. After that then they must upload their resume to their career link account. Every student has a career link account on our website.”

Students must also complete a mock interview in the career development office with a staff member Shannon said. After those steps have been completed, then the student can start applying for internships.

“Internships are important for a number of reasons,” Shannon said. She suggested that long term goals should be considered when trying to decide to do an internship or not.

“Internships help make you more marketable and give you an advantage in the job market. They give you experience,” she said.

Dustin Sevier, psychology senior, recommends doing an internship to help you decide if that is the career path you want to take.

“For most people internships are either the beginning or end of a journey. My internship was the beginning of a journey,” Sevier said. “After interning at New Albany High School I was reinforced in my career path choosing. Working with the students gave me a sense of accomplishment to see students who were failing before my arrival now on the path to graduation upon my departure.”

The Career Development Center offers over 100 different internships for all majors. According to the IUS Internship Guide 2013, the benefits of doing an internship are to gain knowledge and career-related experience before graduation, to explore career options, to help develop professional skills, to network and also to earn income or academic credit. An internship helps enhance a student’s marketability when applying for a job after graduation.

“Employers like to see that a person has had experience,” said Shannon. “Getting related experience for your future job is very important. Having the reference from an internship really will help most students when applying for a job. Employers prefer to hire someone that comes highly recommended.”

Juggling school, family, and a job is a normal thing for many students, and most people cannot even imagine adding another thing to their schedules. However, Shannon stresses that it is possible to do an internship along with a busy schedule.

“I know a lot of our students are very busy right now and a lot of our students work,” Shannon said. “I understand that and empathize with them, but at the same time I tell them to think about their long term goals.” She recommends that students consider doing an internship during the summer or when they have a light course load.

“I can’t stress enough how important an internship is for experience for the future,” Shannon said.